


Let That Pony Run

by westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist



Category: The West Wing
Genre: Angst, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2000-08-30
Updated: 2000-08-30
Packaged: 2019-05-15 01:23:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 3,948
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14780975
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist/pseuds/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist
Summary: Abbey tries to fight the cancer.





	1. Let That Pony Run

**Author's Note:**

> A copy of this work was once archived at National Library, a part of the [ West Wing Fanfiction Central](https://fanlore.org/wiki/West_Wing_Fanfiction_Central), a West Wing fanfiction archive. More information about the Open Doors approved archive move can be found in the [announcement post](http://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/8325).

Disclaimers: Just a girl having some fun.

Notes: This is the sequel to Strength to Carry On. Yes, it happened, with Dallas' help, I figured out what to do for a sequel. Now, I know nothing about cancer, so if I get anything wrong in this fic, or got anything wrong in the last one, you can chalk it up to ignorance.

Spoilers: None.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, today is another short day, so let me get through it, and then you can ask questions." CJ stepped up to the podium for yet another press briefing.

"The President and First Lady are scheduled to be leaving in one hour, so of course they will be here for another three or four." The press corps chuckled.

"As you already know, they are going there in hopes of having a nice and quiet Christmas. Their daughters were invited to join them, but unfortunately none of them were able to make it. That's all I have, so unless there are any quest. . ." CJ was cut off by what seemed like hundreds of arms shooting up at once and voices to go along with those arms. "Steve?"

"Mrs. Bartlet had an appointment yesterday, concerning her cancer. Do you know what is going on with that?"

"I do know that she had an appointment, and as far as I am aware, there have been no changes in her condition." CJ said with a small hint of disappointment in her voice. "Danny?"

"How hopeful are the doctors remaining as to the full recovery of the First Lady?"

"They have maintained their original position, and that is, that only time will tell. Next, Chris?"

~~~

"You haven't even begun to get ready, have you Jed?" Abbey called out to Jed as she finished packing her bags.

"I have to! I started two minutes ago, for your information." Jed defended himself.

"Jed, we leave in ten minutes, and you just now decided it would be a good idea to pack? You're impossible."

"And I suppose you're all done packing?"

"Actually, I just finished." Abbey walked out of the closet and found Jed opening up a suitcase on their bed.

"I know, I shouldn't be surprised. You do this every time."

"Well, look at it this way. I didn't actually leave it until the very last minute like last time." Jed smiled. "I still have ten minutes."

"Move over." Abbey playfully bumped her husband away from the suitcase. "I'm beginning to think that you do this on purpose, just to make me pack for you."

Stretching out on the bed, Jed grinned, "Now what would ever posses you to think such a thing?"

"I have no idea." Abbey disappeared into Jed's closet and returned with a hand full of clothes. "You know, I should pack all of the things you hate to wear, just to get back at you." Abbey carefully dumped all the clothes in hand, into the suitcase.

Pulling Abbey down onto the bed, Jed began to tickle her. "Now, why would you want to do something like that?"

"Stop that, or I really will." Abbey said as she giggled due to the tickling.

"You're no fun, you know that." Jed said as he let go of his wife.

"No fun?" Abbey turned around on top of Jed. "No fun? I'll show you no fun!" Now Abbey was tickling Jed.

TBC. . .

  

  


	2. Let That Pony Run 2

Let That Pony Run

by AJ

"So are you going to tell me what you got me for Christmas?" Jed asked Abbey as he held her in his arms.

"Sure." Abbey replied.

"Really?! What is it?"

"I'll tell you on Christmas." Abbey snuggled into him.

"I could always tickle it out of you." Jed raised his eyebrows.

"I'm getting tired. I'm going to go to sleep for a little bit. Let me know when we get there. Okay?" Abbey ignored his last comment.

Jed decided against words, as he just shifted his body, to make room for his wife to use him as a cushion. As Abbey drifted off into sleep, Jed drifted off into space.

Sitting there, supporting his sleeping wife, he began to stroke through her hair as he began to think back on the past few months.

~*~*~

"Jed!" Abbey's voice screamed from pain.

When he heard her cry out his name, his heart began to race as he ran to find her.

"Abbey? Where are you?" Jed called out from outside his bedroom doors, unable to locate his wife.

"Down here." Abbey had lost her balance and fallen down the steps. "I think I may have broken my leg, Jed."

"Okay, I've got you." Jed bent over and picked his wife up off the bottom of the stairs. "Just hold on tight."

~~

"Mrs. Bartlet, you're going to have to have that cast on your leg for quite some time. Because your bones aren't as strong as they used to be." The doctor said as he was wrapping Abbey's left leg up in a cast.

"Cause of the chemotherapy?"

"Yes, ma'am. Because of the chemotherapy."

~~

"Abbey ...!" Jed's voice warned.

"Jed, I don't care what the doctor said. I'm tired of being cooped up like this. I know the risks, and I'm willing to take them."

"Abbey, please." Jed begged for his wife to stop what she was doing and return to the bed. "You just barely got your cast off the other day, and your bones are still not very strong. Please, just get back in bed."

"Jed ... I'm sick of this. I'm sick of staying in bed all the time, because. . . because of the chemotherapy. I want this to be over. I want it to end, Jed. I just want it to end." Tears began to flow from her eyes.

Taking her into his arms, Jed soothingly stroked her back. "I know. I know. I want it to end too. But you have to take care of yourself, Abigail. I'm not going to loose you. So just do me a favor, and get back in the bed."

~*~*~

"Jed!" Abbey called out once more.

Snapping out of his thoughts, he realized they had arrived at the cabin, and that Abbey was awake again, and calling his name. "Huh?!" He said, still somewhat in a daze.

"It's about time you snapped out of it honey. I was afraid I lost you there for a moment." Abbey smiled.

"You'll never loose me, Abbey." Jed took his wife into a hug, those flashbacks still fresh in his memory.

TBC...

  


	3. Let That Pony Run 3

Let That Pony Run

by AJ

"Hey, why don't you go. . ." Abbey was cut off by Jed.

"Are you trying to get rid of me?" Jed smiled staring at his wife across the room.

"Yes, yes I am. Now get!"

"Where am I getting to? And why am I getting there?"

"Why don't you go sit outside and call Jennifer. We never did get in touch with her before we left."

"You're gonna trust me to call her?"

"Well, if you start to act like a little two year old with her, I'll find out, and you won't get any Christmas presents." Abbey said moving over to Jed.

"First, I don't act like a. . ."

"Jed!" Abbey warned.

"Two year old." Jed finished despite Abbey's warning. He further slipped an arm around his wife.

"Yeah, you're worse." Abbey laughed. "Now get! I need to wrap your present." Abbey walked him towards the door, phone in hand.

"It's like ten degrees outside!" Jed protested.

"You're from New Hampshire. You should be used to the cold."

"This better be one good present." Jed kissed Abbey on the cheek as he left the cabin.

As Abbey sat on the living room floor, she took out the present, and all materials essential for wrapping it. As she did so, she couldn't help but think about the other present she had for him. And that soon turned her thoughts back a few months. ~*~*~ After carefully setting his wife back down on the bed, Jed laid down next to her. "Easy now." He said quietly.

Abbey was laying on the bed, looking very pale, and very week. "Yeah."

"I'm gonna call in late." Jed suggested.

"No! You need to go into work. I'll be fine."

"UN UNH!!! You're not gonna do it this time. Last time you told me to go into work, you didn't really mean it. And then I got in trouble." Abbey laughed at Jed. "I'm staying right here with you this time."

"Jed, I'll be fine. I promise." Abbey's voice was so weak, it was frightening. ~~~ "It's okay Abbey, let it out." Jed held his crying wife in his arms.

"How is it going to be okay? I've been on chemo for the longest time. . . I don't even remember exactly how long it's been. And still. . . nothing. No changes." Abbey sobbed.

"Because the doctor is still very optimistic. And I know you, Abigail Bartlet. I know you. You are going to beat this. And you know why?" Jed picked his wife's face up into his hands.

"Why?" She weakly responded.

"Because you are the most stubborn person I know. . . next to me. You won't let this beat you." Jed kissed her gently on the lips and then let go of her face, as she buried it back into his chest. ~*~*~ When Abbey heard the door shut, she suddenly snapped out of her thought process, and looked up to see a secret service agent.

"Ma'am, I hate to interrupt you, but the President sent me in here. He wants to know if he is allowed to come back in yet."

"You tell the President that he can come back in when I let him back in." Abbey informed the young agent.

"Yes, ma'am." The agent replied as he walked back outside.

As soon as she was alone again, she hurried up and finished wrapping the present, then went to hide it. Once that was done, she let Jed back in.

"You'd be proud of me, Abbey. I was all nice, and everything."

"I don't believe it. Give me the phone." Abbey's voice playfully filled with disbelief.

"Nope. Not gonna do it." Jed replied as he ran to the couch.

"You're gonna have to run farther than that, Jed Bartlet!" Abbey said as she went after him.

TBC...

  


	4. Let That Pony Run 4

Let That Pony Run

by AJ

Notes: Again, thanks to Rhiannon for letting me use Jennifer. :)

"I'll give you a hint, if you give me a hint. It is Christmas Eve." Jed said as he held his wife tightly in his arms.

"Jed, give it up. I'm not giving you any hints as to what your present is."

"Why not? Haven't I been a good little boy?"

"Good?" Abbey said playfully as she turned around and looked at him and judged his facial expression. "Don't you dare."

"Dare what?" Jed asked innocently.

"Jed. . . I'm warning you, if you tickle me again. . ." Abbey said as the phone started to ring. "Go get the phone." She lightly smacked him on the chest.

"Yes, ma'am." Jed said as he moved Abbey off of him and went to answer the phone. "Hello. . . Zoey? What's going on?. . ."

Abbey heard her youngest daughter's name, and was once again transported back into time, a few months earlier. ~*~*~ "What is it mom?" Zoey entered her parent's bedroom.

"Zoey. . . we need to talk. Why don't you sit down." Abbey was lying on her bed with her husband sitting next to her when their daughter came in.

"Mom, you're scaring me. What's going on? Why did you call me out of class?" Zoey climbed onto her parent's bed, and sat down where her father had indicated for her to do so. "Does this have something to do with you being sick?"

"Yeah, it does, Zoey." Abbey tried to sit up, but Jed wouldn't let her.

"Abbey, the doctor said for you to lay down. Not sit up." Jed warned his wife.

"Okay, okay." Abbey said as she nestled herself back into the bed. "Zoey. . . I have. . . cancer."

"Cancer?" Zoey asked in a very stunned manor.

"Yeah, cancer." Abbey repeated.

"How serious is it? What can they do about it?. . ." Zoey kept mumbling on in fear.

"Zoey. . . shh!" Jed grabbed his daughter in a tight embrace. "Shh, it's gonna be okay. The doctors are going to make your mother okay, again." ~*~*~ "Earth to Abbey!" Jed proclaimed loudly for the third time.

"Huh?" Abbey finally snapped out of it.

"Zoey wants to talk with you." Jed handed the phone to her.

"That kid. . . I swear, she worries about me more than her father does." Abbey gave Jed a look as she took the phone.

Once Abbey had the phone, she shifted her body yet again, so that Jed could sit back down with her. As Abbey was snuggling into him, while talking on the phone, it was his turn to drift back a few months in time. ~*~*~ "Dad!" Zoey and Jennifer entered the Oval Office shouting for their father at the same time.

"What'd she do now?" Jed asked as he looked up.

"She went in to work." Zoey replied.

"Jennifer, I thought it was your turn to watch her." Jed said, climbing out of his chair.

"I was, but when she gets an idea into her head, she can be worse than you, dad." Jennifer retorted.

"I'm not that bad." Jed defended himself.

"Yes, you are."

"No, I'm not."

"Yes, you are." The three Bartlet's walked out of the Oval Office.

"No, I'm not."

"Yes, you are."

"No, I'm not. Sam," Jed saw his deputy director of communications walking in the halls. "Am I as bad as my wife?"

"Sam, be careful when you answer this question." Jennifer ordered playfully.

"I don't know what you're talking about, sir. I have to go put this on. . . uh. . . Josh's desk. Bye." Sam scampered off.

"See, I told you, dad. You are."

"I am not." Jed protested.

"Yes, you are dad." Zoey chimed in. She knew she shouldn't add to their fights. They were childish enough on their own. But she thought that maybe if they teamed up against their father, that he would have to back down.

"Zoey!" Jed exclaimed in a shocked voice as he grabbed her and roughed up her hair.

"Dad!" Zoey said back to him, protesting, as they stood right outside of Abbey's office.

Taking a deep breath, Jed opened the doors and stood in the doorway. Abbey heard the opening door and looked up. Neither one of them said anything, so Jed just walked over to her side and pulled her chair, with her in it, away from the desk. Abbey gazed up at him with a childish look on her face as he pulled her up from the chair and began to walk her back to the residence. ~*~*~ "Jed, come on. Up!" Abbey commanded.

Hearing his wife's voice, Jed began to stir out of his memories. "Huh?"

"It's bedtime." Abbey said gently kissing him on the lips.

"Okay." Jed stumbled off the couch, where he had accidentally fallen asleep.

TBC. . .


	5. Let That Pony Run 5

Let That Pony Run

by AJ

"So it's Christmas now. And I've been a good little boy. Where are my presents?" Jed asked as if he were a little five-year-old on Christmas morning. Which was probably more accurate then not.

"I want mine first." Abbey smiled as she leaned into him.

"But. . ."

"I want mine first. Please." Abbey began to pour on the charm.

"Fine." Jed gave in. He always gave in. Getting up, Jed walked over to the fireplace. From the mantle, he retrieved a small rectangular object from behind some other things. He then made his way back over to his wife. "Here's your first present."

"More than one?" Abbey smiled as she began to unwrap the one in hand. "Oh, Jed!" Abbey cried out as she looked at the gift in hand.

"You like it?"

"Do you really have to ask?" She hugged him.

"So you remember this, right?"

"How could I forget?" Abbey said, holding the present up to her face. "Read it to me." She asked as she leaned back into him.

".....The Enchantment by Thomas Otway." Jed began as he held the small piece of wood with a poem written on it in his hands.

"I did but look and love awhile, ..'Twas but for one half-hour; Then to resist I had no will, ..And now I have no power.

To sigh and wish is all my ease; ..Sighs which do heat impart Enough to melt the coldest ice, ..Yet cannot warm your heart.

O would your pity give my heart ..One corner of your breast, 'Twould learn of yours the winning art, ..And quickly steal the rest."

By the end of the poem, Jed was no longer reading it. He had had it memorized for some time. Ever since. . .

Ever since he first gave it to her. . . when he was still courting her. . . 35 some odd years ago.

"I have another present for you." Jed figured that since she was already crying, he might as well get it all over with now. "It's a little heavy to carry, so you're gonna have to follow me." Jed said as he helped his wife up off the couch, then got up himself.

"Where are we going?" Abbey sobbed. She wasn't sure if she could take another emotional present. Which is just what Jed had in mind.

"Just in here." They walked into the kitchen. "Right there." Jed pointed to a big, very old, chest with a red bow on it.

"That looks like. . ." Abbey trailed off as she walked over to her present.

"It is." Jed followed her and put his hands on her shoulders. "Open it up." Jed suggested.

Abbey looked up at him with her teary eyes, and then opened the chest. . . her chest. The same one that her grandmother had given to her when she was a little child.

After a long moment of locking eyes with him, she finally turned her attention back to the chest. Her eyes lit up as she saw the contents. "Jed. . ." Abbey began to rifle through the thing. "How on earth did you ever find some of this stuff?"

"I wouldn't want to spoil the wonder behind it all." Jed knelt down at his wife's side placing a hand in the small of her back.

"This was my grandmother's favorite book to read to me. . . and this is. . ." Abbey couldn't continue. She was too choked up, emotionally. She stood up, as Jed was doing the same, and then flew into his arms. "Thank you, so much."

"You're welcome." Jed said as he stroked through her hair.

"I love you." Abbey said, tears still flooding her cheeks. "I love you so very much."

TBC. . .

  


	6. Let That Pony Run 6

Let That Pony Run

by AJ

"I love you too, Abbey." Jed continued to hold his weeping wife tightly in his arms.

After a minute or two of shedding happy tears, Abbey managed to surpress them enough to say, "I imagine you want your presents now."

"I thought I was only getting one." Jed said in an excited tone as he loosened his grip on Abbey.

"Sort of." Abbey smiled. "Go in the living room, I'll be in there in a minute with your presents." Abbey ushered him out as she went down a hallway.

Entering the living room, Abbey stopped in the doorway and gazed lovingly at Jed. Jed sensing he was being watched, turned around to face her. Their eyes danced as they met each other's glance. Finally, Abbey started walking again. As she was by the couch, she sat down with her body turned, facing Jed, and handed him a wrapped package.

"This is your first one. I hope you like it." Abbey still had some tears in her eyes.

"It's from you, so I know I'll love it, just as much as I love you." Jed began to unwrap it slowly.

"You know, after all the fuss you put up with trying to find out what the present was, you'd think that you would just tear the thing open." Abbey laughed as Jed carefully unstuck a piece of tape from the paper.

"Oh, hush!" Jed said as he was finally getting somewhere with the gift. When he removed the paper, he saw a book. A notebook. A journal.

His journal.

His journal from when they were first married, when he still kept a journal.

"Abbey. . . how'd you find this? I thought I lost it years ago." Jed said in a very stunned manner.

"You like it?" It was Abbey's turn to ask.

"You know I do." Jed leaned over and kissed Abbey.

"I put a bookmark in there." Abbey pointed. "Open it up and read that entry." She smiled at him.

Jed looked at her for a moment longer than did as she instructed. He smiled as he saw the date of the entry she had bookmarked.

"Christmas, 1968." He looked back up at his wife. "We made it through our first Christmas, today. No small task. Her family and mine all got together here, at our house. But we finally got through the day." Jed smiled at the memories.

"Keep reading." Abbey insisted. "But skip to this part right here." She pointed to a paragraph.

"Abbey made me wait until everyone left before she gave me my present. A present worth waiting for." Abbey leaned into her husband as he kept reading. "I can't believe I am going to be a father in 9 months. Daddy. I'm going to be a daddy. I can hardly believe it. I hope that I'm a good father. At least half as good as I know Abbey will be a mother. Look at her over there, laying on the bed. She keeps rubbing her belly. She probably doesn't even realize that I'm watching her. But then, I'm always watching her. I can't seem to take my eyes off of her; I love her so much. Uh oh, I just got caught. -Jed has to say goodnight now, journal.- Abbey- Goodnight now, journal. -Jed."

When Jed stopped reading the entry he had made 32 years ago, he looked up. "How on earth did you ever find this, Abigail?"

"My lips are sealed." Abbey smiled at him.

"Well then, maybe I'll just have to unseal them for you." Jed raised his eyebrows as he leaned in for a nice long kiss. When it ended, he said, "Well. . .?"

"They are still sealed." She smiled again.

"I'll tell you, if you tell me." Jed said in his little boy's voice.

"No, you'll make me tell you, and then you'll chicken out." Abbey said playfully.

"You know me too well." He smiled at her. "So, I believe you said you had two presents for me."

"Yes, I may have said something like that." Abbey teased.

"So. . . I think I've waited long enough."

"Yeah, you have." Abbey took his face into her hands and kissed him gently and ever so passionately. When the kiss broke, she let go of his face and took his hands into hers. Looking deeply into his eyes, she said, "I have some wonderful news for you."

"I'm listening." Jed leaned his forehead until it was touching up against hers.

"I've gone into remission. I no longer have cancer." Abbey smiled as her husband's jaw dropped to the ground.

"Abbey. . ." Jed was speechless. Other than saying her name, he was speechless. This news filled him with so much joy that a single tear began to flow from his eye.

When she saw the tear, one slowly began to form in hers. She took his face back into her hands, as her lips found his.

THE END


End file.
